mikeShriver

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the current ways of selling music have become obsolete. Record companies are losing business and money. Not only that, a lot of us are sick of hearing about the music industry’s addiction to its outdated business model. Today alone, there have been three stories on Slashdot about the RIAA’s legal antics, and from the looks of those stories, it doesn’t look good for the music industry.

In 2002, when the RIAA started it’s campaign of lawsuits again individual filesharers, the internet community responded vocally. Bloggers and their readers were outraged at an action that essentially amounted to extortion by lawyer. While Anger and frustration were common themes, concern and fear for the victims was also present. People spoke out against the frivolous cases brought against people who lacked the motivation, or even the means, to infringe on the RIAA’s copyrights. It seems like every third day for years a new story has hit the frontpage about some deceased old lady, single mother, or technologically isolated family that has been slapped with an infringement suit. The actions of the record companies were so obviously evil that it was hard not to feel contempt for them. Well, now some of those cases are starting to wrap up, and it is beginning to look as if the RIAA is not only evil, they are also losing the war.

Of course, a few stories on Slashdot hardly make a trend. Still, the lawsuits that make the frontpage there have serious implications for the future of the industry’s litigation campaign. For instance, because of the outcome of one of the Capitol Records vs. Foster case, the RIAA may be forced to pay legal fees for defendants which have committed no wrongdoing. This, alone, will force a major change in the RIAA’s tactics.

An even bigger indication of the industry’s obsolescence comes from their own financial reports. Music just isn’t selling like it once did. Industry representatives will tell you that it is due to uncontrolled digital piracy. They argue that people who download music no longer have to buy it, so they don’t. That scenario is likely true, but it lacks the scope to address the wider issue. Listeners are simply starting to acquire their music differently, and if the industry is going to survive this shift, they are going to have to adapt faster, and this means killing off some of their favorite products.

One of the biggest casualties of the now-ubiquitous internet is the album. It used to be that a record label could sell a group of 15 of songs based on the merits of the single. The quality of the rest of the album was largely irrelevant to the listener at the time of purchase. The other 14 songs could be as great as the single, or, more likely, they could could just be filler. As a listener your options were to either buy the whole album for 15 bucks or to get the single for two or three. Now, though, anyone can purchase any single track they like for about a buck from an online music store. consequently, the album, as it has existed for decades, is not selling like it used to. People have better options. Pretty soon only the nostalgic will want to spend money on a physical album, and that market has already been filled with vinyl.

The good news for the industry is that digital distribution costs are radically lower than the than the costs to distribute physical media. The bad news is that if they don’t realize this soon, they are going to become irrelevant. The drop in cost of distribution is already being taken advantage of by independent labels and artists. Bands are starting to realize that they don’t need a big label to become successful anymore, and without artists to support the big record labels, the mainstream industry is going to collapse in on itself.

If their behavior is to be any indicator, the big record labels realize that their doom is forthcoming. These recent legal actions are the last struggles of a business trying to force its old business model to work. It won’t work, market forces are too powerful to strongarm with a few lawsuits. It’s probably for the best, though. I would love to see more diversity of music and independent bands succeeding through underground marketing.